740: animus Dec 17, 2016

As time goes on, words gain new meanings and these are often reinforced with derivatives, as it is more difficult conceptually to have a word with two potentially contrasting meanings than it would be to use two separately pronounced ones. It is not uncommon for this reason to have a single outlying derivative distinct from the general thematic connotation that the rest, as well as the original word, have. Every now and then, conflicting ideologies will effect a word's derivatives to fall into one of usually two groups. 'Animosity', 'animus' and in certain contexts, 'animalistic' and 'animality' all tend towards the connotation of hatred, or a lack of restraint. On the other hand, 'animism', 'animate', and 'anima' all relate more to the original sense of the word: a soul. All of these words come from the same Latin one, and ultimately from an Indo European root meaning, 'to breathe' but depend fundamentally on the way that people perceive them.